Rebecca Minnock left her home in Highbridge, Somerset, after a court order saying he should live with his father, Roger Williams, was issued.

She went missing on May 27 but after a high-profile campaign to trace her handed herself in on June 12.

Mr Williams, 39, had applied to Judge Stephen Wildblood to commit Miss Minnock, 34, to prison for contempt of court.

However, today Mr Williams dropped the application - alleging 10 breaches of court orders - and saved his former partner from an immediate prison sentence.

Judge Wildblood described Miss Minnock, who appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court, as a "scourge" on the family courts system and 'utterly irresponsible'.

In a damning judgment, Judge Wildblood said Miss Minnock was 'manipulative, attention seeking and truculent'.

He added: "Parents who flout court orders are the scourge of the system. It is only the mercy of the father that spares this mother.

"Had the contempt proceedings continued before me and led to a finding of contempt, I make no concealment of the fact that I would have sentenced her to immediate imprisonment which I anticipate would have involved a sentence of at least 28 days in prison.

"As it is, I think that the father's wishes should be respected. He and Ethan are the victims of this mother's actions and I consider that the father's voice should prevail.

"She owes her liberty to him. She must never fail to comply with court orders again; they will be my orders in the future, as I will now be the judge of these proceedings subject to the direction of any higher court."

PA

Rebecca Minnock ran off with her three-year-old son, Ethan

Judge Wildblood commended Mr Williams for acting with "extreme sensitivity" and said he had kept 'the pain, frustration and distress that he must have been feeling to himself'.

The judge, who took the usual step of lifting reporting restrictions in such a case in order to find Ethan, acknowledged that the publicity had come 'at at price'.

The judge said: "Mr Williams now wishes to end the public displays of the difficulties that affect Ethan's upbringing and wishes the remaining disputes to be heard away from the glare of publicity."

Ethan's legal guardian, Tara Bolton, and his solicitor previously indicated they would not initiate any contempt proceedings on behalf of the boy.

The judge said any suggestion that Miss Minnock was driven to flee with Ethan because she "had no alternative" was without any foundation.

The mother-of-one fled with Ethan on May 27 - the day she was supposed to attend a family court hearing in Bristol where custody would be awarded to Mr Williams.

Judge Wildblood said: "The one thing that this mother should not have done is to remove Ethan from his home environment and family life and take him into hiding."

Miss Minnock told the court she had only had one hour of supervised contact with Ethan, which took place yesterday in the presence of his legal guardian.

She said: "My big concern at the moment is, I got to see Ethan yesterday, if I am going to go to prison what emotional damage is that going to do on Ethan, after seeing me yesterday?"